Strewth! Almost 600 wallabies living wild on the Isle of Man

A study of the Isle of Man's wild wallaby population has revealed there are around 560 of the creatures living there.

The Aussie animals, which are related to the kangaroo, are concentrated in the Ballaugh Curragh wetlands area of special scientific interest.

There are also small populations living in the wild in southern England although their native habitat is among the remote areas of Australia.

Ben Harrower, a wildlife consultant who conducted the survey, said the results were "really eye opening".

"The wallaby population at this site is into the several hundreds and they appear to be doing very well in this habitat.

"It would be interesting to look at the impacts that they are having."

Ben specialises in counting large mammals using a thermal imaging camera mounted on a drone.

He was in the Isle of Man from 8-11 January 2023, and although the strong winds prevented them from doing as much surveying as hoped, the team is confident they did complete an accurate count.

Two surveys, carried out across 400 hectares of the Ballaugh Curragh over two consecutive nights, gave an average number of 568 wallabies, a density of 140 per square mile.

Leigh Morris, CEO of the Manx Wildlife Trust, said: "Our simple aim from carrying out this survey is to enable the IOM to have more informed discussions about the future management of our site.

"I was with Ben and his wife for the entire time for both counts and we’re 100% confident in the numbers.

"It was very interesting to watch, and I was personally astounded at the number we counted - there were far more then we were expecting."

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